Minutes

6-11-2025

Jon called the meeting to order at 6PM

Roll Call in attendance: Jon Tanis, Bob Stand, Jake Hintz, Jorja Boiley and Donna Sherman

Bob made a motion to approve the agenda as written seconded by Jake Hintz all in favor of the motion carried

Bob made a motion to approve Minutes from the Special Meeting May 14, 2025, seconded by Jon all in favor motion carried.

Bob made a motion to approve Minutes from the Board meeting May 14, 2025, seconded by Jake all in favor motion carried.

Jake made a motion to approve Minutes from the Special Meeting May 15, 2025, seconded by Bob all in favor motion carried.

Bob made a motion to approve Minutes from the Public Hearing held on May 22, 2025, seconded by Jake all in favor motion carried.

Sheriff Department liaison report- Nick Yohanek- 202 calls for service in May – Jon asked when construction would be done hopefully end of summer.

Treasurer report: Jorja read the account balances. Bob made a motion to accept the treasurers report as read seconded by Jake Hintz all in favor motion carried.

Clerk Report: Jorja – hopefully by the end of next week she will return to her regular business house.

Supervisor report – Jake no report – Bob no Report

Jon said the ATV/UTV surveys are still coming in and they are due by the end of June.  This will be on the July meeting agenda

Public Works report- Carl said he has been mowing ditches first round will be done this week – cutting trees, filing in potholes – putting up signs for dairy breakfast for traffic.

Liquor license applications/and operator’s license – Jorja reported applications received applications from The Fuzzy Pig – with 2 owners and 1 operator – Willow Brook 2 owners who have applied for servers and The Boat House no applications for servers all involved has passed background check – any additional that may come in a after a special meeting will then be needed for approval.

Jon is clarifying some items with the attorney for now he will table The Boat House

Jon made a motion for The Fuzzy Pig and Willow Brook – and would strongly suggest they get more operators as the owners are not always there seconded by Bob all in favor motion carried.

Board discussion regarding the information gathered on May 22, 2025, Public Hearing for artificially enhanced wakes.  Jon said there were 3 Richmond Town Board members present and would like to hear from them

Donna Jones spoke, stating they planned on meeting next Tuesday to discuss the topic further.

Jon asked the board what their thoughts were. Bob said his concerns are the floor of the lake and the 10-foot depth, he also felt the DNR should be involved in the decision they make since they own the lake.  He said wake boats should be held to the same standard as all recreational watercrafts. He said if it doesn’t pass, suggested that a specific portion of the Lake could be designated specifically for wake boats but that would require a lot of marking on the shore stations and additional education, said the ordinance was submitted to the DNR and he feels some changes would need to be made.

Jake said that he kind of goes back and forth on it – he was on boat patrol – some of the large pontoons create wakes just as large, Jake feels the DNR should be the one to spearhead this.  Jake feels we should not be the ones to take on this responsibility.  He mentioned there is an ongoing legal case and feels the township should not be put on the line. He mentioned near bird island he has seen deck boats tear up the lake bottom, he said he would not be in favor of a full ban but more of a compromise. Jake stated various boat size statistics. Jake is not in favor of a full out ban. The more restrictions placed affect property values, and people will not want to come here.

Bob asked about patrolling – Jake said patrolling can be difficult to manage beside him they have several others who are retired but living their golden years.

Jon asked how would monitoring a specific area be Jake said that makers could be installed.

Jon asked about Rice Lake Jake and Bob both agreed they would be in favor of a full ban given the depth being under 15 feet.

Jake said boats that have ballasts are hard to monitor.  Boats with fins would also need a reason to pull them over to then inspect it and it would need to be pulled from the water.

Jake reached out to Palmyra (Jefferson county) to see how they are enforcing it but he has not received a response.

Jon said he had done research when he submitted to the DNR for feedback, he was hoping to get more feedback but the contact Jason Roberts regarding local ordinances they are just signing off on them.

Jon said if it is then restricted to certain areas the concern would be how this would be managed.

Jake said he observed deck boat traveling along the buoy lines.

Jon asked Jake about boat size – in that comparison Jake said it would make it so much easier if the DNR would step in and make specific boat restrictions based on lake size.

Jake said he would like to see how this plays out with this current pending lawsuit which could impact township

Noah our town attorney felt they have no basis however there would be attorney fees involved.

Jon asked if we would be able to move forward with the Rice Lake ordinance part of it or would that mean we would have to start over.  Noah agreed that another public hearing would be needed.

Jon felt the next step would be to set up an educational thing and to then amend the ordinance.  In the meantime to keep everything as is for the season.

 

Currently All boats shall operate at a slow-no-wake speed after 7:00 p.m. or sunset, whichever is earlier, on Fridays, Saturdays, holidays and the day preceding a holiday, to 9:00 a.m. the following day. All other days, water skiing and boat wakes will be permitted from 9:00 a.m. until sunset. The maximum speed outside the traffic lane shall be slow-no-wake at all times every day of the week.

Jon felt the consensus is to have continued education and continue to monitor

Jake said it would be good to have drone footage to be able to video – Jake can reach out to the sheriff’s office as they can tie that into their training.

Jon feels a depth measurement needs to be a factor

Jon requested to add wake times discussion to the next agenda and additional boat patrol if possible.

Jon is going out on a boat and Bob was also interested.

Public comment:

Teri Kilpin –spoke she wanted to address her reasoning she is not against – her main concern is safety. second is the lake environment.  She has been a lake member since 1986. What she does not agree with is a statement that was made about money and how much one has should not give them a right to disturb/wreck the lake bottom.  She also felt making specific areas dedicated, that is not fair to those people.  Jake said he would like to rebuttal safety speaking to ATV’s it is no different than a boat. Jake said everyone has a right to use the property as intended in the state of WI.

Colleen Roy – spoke to safety – and how her wake boat was able to rescue someone drowning.

Christy Litchford – she is not here to destroy the Lake; she wants it to be here for a long time.

Donna Jones Richmond Township– Whitewater lake is in part of Richmond Township. She was disappointed to hear that the township wants to wait for the DNR, we don’t.  They want it to be the township to care for the lakes.  Their plan is the wake surfing ban would be self-enforced as other restrictions that does not scare them. When you talk about waves and depth, she encouraged them to look at the study from University of MN it is the power not the size of the wave.  She questioned what would be monitored and how.  Jon felt the DNR would have had more feedback on the topic.

Asked what are you looking to educate – it was looking educate the board as well as the public for example if looking to change it to a specific area.

Jake said the DNR has not stepped in why they are not here and not preserving the Lake. They are not doing their portion – secondly how many acres is Turtle lake 140 – Lake Lorraine – similar acreage but shallow. Jake said the part of the ordinance for Whitewater would fall under the whitewater portion not the Richmond – we are talking about enhanced wake boats Jake said we are targeting a specific boat or wake.  Donna Jones disagreed.

Jon said it is not guaranteed to see something but was wanting to see some footage.

Betsy asked about Rice and Whitewater lake

Sally – as a wake surfer we only surf in a certain part of the Lake in the center 20 Feet plus she lives on the bird island side and has never seen a wake surfer it would not work – She feels education would be helpful.

Amy Rodgers commented that she had seen surfers on the bird island side and could not believe they were doing it in that area given how shallow it was.

Robert Sivek – He said there are two things coming up the enhanced wakes and ATVs.  For the ATV issue we have mailed a survey and for the other you’re relying on education.  He was just doing a comparison.

Jake said give him an area to enforce it, when something is written so vague it is hard to enforce.

Cindy Litchford – she recalled doing a survey – and she felt it was very biased.

Claudia Bellinger – surprised to hear the Lake management wanted a total ban – on their survey other towns doing it she has created a Facebook page for the purpose of education. It is now a private group, but her intention is to open it up – promote safety and understanding what the people are upset about. We have joined the water sports coalition – she is all about fair – all about education and signage.

Jon addressed the Facebook page – he understands the education, but the divide is how people are commenting.  Why now contribute to buoys – there needs to be more community involvement – Jon said there are many ways people can get involved, he thought 2010 or 2011 –there was a survey that went out and it did not increase people involvement.   Jon said with this issue we don’t want to divide the community, and we want to do what is best for the lake and the community.

Jake said he works for this community along with the county community being in law enforcement– and the Lake – he does not want it to turn into a Lake Geneva. In his job he has given more death notices from road issues vs results of the Lake incidents.

Carl Olenski -N6883 Hunters Ridge. He is on the Richmond side of the Lake – as far as safety goes – even though the boat is higher the seat also raises to see over the boat – also should run the boat even. From the last public hearing Rich Gunter spoke to some of the studies on the lake – he said over the last 10 years the lake has improved this shows the wake boats are not destroying the lake.  Wakes in the larger depth areas of the lake.  As for the surveys, the results can be skewed.  He would agree with some sort of restrictions but others who don’t know – 200-400 ft out we have plenty of room.

Nicole Tominisu- She mentioned at the last meeting their current boat with ballast bags that are visible and spoke about safety. She does not agree to the wake times being set to 7PM.

Betsy – She spoke about weeds, and they were not able to assess them also she mentioned they are pulling the 7-foot weed harvester, Jake asked if it had to do with the about of rain recently.  Ernest Roy commented the reason it is so green is due to the pollen

Jon can’t speak for the Lake Management, but they have done a lot of research.

Review bills

Adjournment – Jon made a motion to adjourn, seconded by Jake the motion carried, and meeting adjourned at 7:40PM

Respectfully submitted by Donna Sherman – Deputy Clerk